Monday, January 4, 2010

BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES LIFTING OF HIV-RELATED TRAVEL BAN IN U.S. AND
REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have

welcomed the removal of travel restrictions based on HIV status by the
Republic of Korea and by the United States, as of today.

The lifting of the restrictions took effect on 1 January in the
Republic of Korea and today in the United States.

The Secretary-General also repeated his call to all other countries
with such discriminatory restrictions to take steps to remove them as
soon as possible.

The head of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, added that such discrimination had no place in today's highly mobile world. According to UNAIDS, some 57 countries, territories and areas have some form of HIV-specific travel ban.

In a phone call on Monday morning, the Secretary-General and Prime
Minister Gordon Brown exchanged best wishes for the New Year. They
shared concerns about the situation in Somalia.

The Secretary-General indicated his support for the Conference on Yemen
that is being organized by Prime Minister Brown in London at the end of
the month.

The Secretary-General was appreciative of the initiative of Prime
Minister Brown and welcomed the focus of the conference on
counter-terrorism. He expressed concerns about the violence in part of
Yemen and the presence of Al-Qaeda in the country. He was also
concerned about the humanitarian situation. He sought assurance that
the President of Yemen is involved in the preparation of the
conference.

They also discussed follow-up steps on climate change.

Asked whether the Secretary-General would attend the Yemen Conference
in London, the Spokesperson noted that there would be a high-level UN
presence at the Conference on Afghanistan that is to take place in
London at the same time, on 28 January.

Asked about security for UN staff in Yemen, Nesirky added that the
United Nations takes the matter extremely seriously and is reviewing
security on the ground.

report to the General Assembly and the Security Council on Afghanistan
is out as a document today. The Secretary-Generals Special
Representative, Kai Eide, will brief Member States on that report here
this week.

In the report, the Secretary-General says that the controversial 2009
elections undermined confidence in Afghanistans leadership and affected
international support for engagement in Afghanistan. However, it
ultimately yielded a result that was acceptable to the Afghan people
and respected the countrys laws and institutions.

He says that the electoral process revealed serious flaws and
weaknesses that need to be corrected before the United Nations can
engage in a similar supporting role for future elections.

The Secretary-General says that we are now at a critical juncture, and
he adds that there is a need for a reinforced international
coordination structure in Afghanistan, under a UN umbrella.

Asked about the coordination structure for Afghanistan under a UN
umbrella, the Spokesperson provided details from the Secretary-Generals
report, in which he proposes that his Special Representative would have
overall responsibility for the coordination of international civilian
efforts. He added that UNAMA would have to be strengthened with staff
who are able to engage better in discussions with key donor Governments
and embassies in Kabul.

Also, Nesirky said, the report describes a proposal for a civilian
structure that would be co-chaired by an Afghan minister and the
Secretary-Generals Special Representative, with the participation of
the International Security Assistance Force, the European Union, the
World Bank and major donors.

Asked about a recent New York Times editorial concerning Kai Eides
replacement, the Spokesperson said that the recruitment process for
that post is still going on, and it is not appropriate to talk about
names for candidates at this time.

The UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA), in remarks at a
press briefing today, declared that it was encouraged that many of the
reform-oriented ministers in the Afghan Cabinet, for agriculture,
finance, defence and the interior, were approved. But the Mission noted
that many others were rejected, and this will delay the formation of a
functioning Cabinet.

The UN Mission respects the Afghan Parliaments constitutional role in
approving the Cabinet choices and hopes that President Karzai will work
closely with Parliament to approve his choice for the remaining Cabinet
positions swiftly.

CHINA ASSUMES ROTATING PRESIDENCY OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

With the start of a new month, China has assumed the rotating
Presidency of the Security

Council, taking over from Burkina Faso. Also, five new countries joined
the Security Council as of 1 January: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil,
Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria.

The Security Council expects to hold its first consultations for this
year tomorrow morning.

After that, Ambassador Zhang Yesui, the Council President for January,
expects to brief reporters on its programme of work for the coming
month. That press conference will be at 12:30 p.m.

Asked about Egypt's construction activity near the Gaza border, the
Spokesperson later reiterated that it is the UNs understanding that
Egyptian efforts to counter illicit trafficking of arms and ammunition
into the Gaza Strip, as all states are called upon to do by UN Security
Council Resolution 1860, are ongoing.

As for any potential humanitarian consequences, he said, the United
Nations continues to be gravely concerned about socio-economic
conditions in Gaza. The key to a sustainable solution to the crisis in
Gaza is for resolution 1860 to be implemented in full, including an end
to the Israeli blockade and the reopening of all legitimate crossings
between Gaza and Israel and Gaza and Egypt, as prescribed in the 2005
Agreement on Movement and Access.

Asked about the closing of a checkpoint from Israel into Gaza, Nesirky
said that the Secretary-General has repeatedly called for the removal
of impediments to access into Gaza.

BAN KI-MOON RELOCATES TO TEMPORARY BUILDING DURING HEADQUARTERS
RENOVATION

The Office of the Secretary-General has relocated from the 38th floor
to the 3rd floor of the Temporary North Lawn Building (TNLB).

Altogether 272 occupants from the Secretariat Building and the
Conference Building have their swing space offices in the Temporary
North Lawn Building.

Most of them have moved since 25 December. They are scheduled to return
to the renovated Secretariat and Conference Buildings in 2012.

Also a number of conference rooms have already been relocated, and by
25 January 2010 the move of the conference rooms from the Conference
Building to the Temporary North Lawn Building will be complete.

The Secretary-General looks forward to welcoming staff to the new North
Lawn Building at a ceremony on 11 January, and he is expected to be
talking about the UNs agenda for 2010 at a town hall meeting and at a
General Assembly meeting on the same day.

He is also expected to have a press stakeout in the new building on the
same day.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

MORE FOCUSED OPERATION UNDERWAY IN D.R. CONGO: Asked about a new
military offensive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the
Spokesperson said that it was to be a more focused operation than Kimia
II, which has just ended.

MAJORITY OF PREMATURE BABIES BORN IN AFRICA AND ASIA: Striking
inequalities exist between developing and developed countries in the
survival chances of preterm babies, according to the Bulletin of the
World Health Organization (WHO). In the first global overview of
preterm births published, the Bulletin says that out of approximately
13 million premature babies born every year worldwide, almost 11
million are born in Africa and Asia, where many do not have access to
effective care. An average of 10% of births worldwide occur before 37
weeks gestation, in other words are premature, although this rate
ranges between 3.8% for countries in central Asia and 17.5% in southern
Africa.